Born Bryan Danielson, Daniel Bryan went to Aberdeen-Weatherwax High School in Aberdeen, Washington. It was after his high school graduation that he decided he wanted to pursue a career in professional wrestling. He trained at the Dean Malenko wrestling school until it closed and then moved on to the Texas Wrestling Academy where he studied under Rudy Gonzalez and Shawn Michaels.

Danielson made his debut in 2000 in the Texas Wrestling Alliance (TWA) and won his first championship as a professional. He spent a great deal of time touring the country before the WWF (now WWE) signed him to their developmental system, a program new wrestlers work through to refine their skills before they’re allowed to debut on television. During this time, he was assigned to Memphis Championship Wrestling where he was trained by William Regal. Believe it or not, WWF severed their contract with Danielson in 2001 when it cut ties with MCW. He spent the years after that touring with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, touring with Ring of Honor (where he is acknowledged as a founding father), and appearing in a wide variety of independent ciruits and promotions.

Danielson signed his contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in August of 2009. He joined the FCW in early 2010 and made his on-air debut in February of 2010, where he was formally renamed Daniel Bryan. Believe it or not, the WWE had given him a list of 10 names to choose from – Daniel Bryan was on the list but his real name was not. in June of 2010, Bryan and several other NXT rookies interfered with a main event and Bryan himself supposedly strangled the announcer with his own necktie. Daniel Bryan’s release from the WWE was written into the storyline, but he was actually released from the organization.

It wasn’t long before Daniel Bryan reappeared within the WWE, though. He returned in August of that same year as the surprise 7th member of the Team WWE for the tag team match against the other group of NXT wrestlers. He was then a part of the RAW roster, competed in the Night of Champions, and won his first WWE United States Championship.

That was just the beginning of Daniel Bryan’s career in the WWE. He has slowly but surely worked his way towards stardom, refining his WWE persona and participating in a number of creative storylines. In the summer of 2013, Bryan was pitted against WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, who didn’t think he was the right face for the WWE, and WWE COO Triple H, who is one of Bryan’s biggest supporters.

To this day, Daniel Bryan works hard to be popular with his fans, choosing mannerisms and wrestling skill over strange character attributes and costumes. That isn’t to say he doesn’t have a few gimmicks, phrases, and signature actions.

While much of what you see on the WWE series is a scripted storyline, Daniel Bryan is in a long-term relationship with WWE Diva Brie Bella. The two have been a couple for three years and Bryan just recently proposed to Brie, which was featured at the end of the fall 2013 season of Total Divas, another E! Network show. The relationship is real, but has also been worked into Bryan’s WWE storyline.

Daniel Bryan’s net worth is currently estimated at $2 million.

How much is $2 million? It’s not a ton of money, compared to other athletes, but Daniel Bryan is slowly but surely working his way up the ranks within the WWE, earning a salary of approximately $675,000 per year.

What could he do with that money? A little bit of research for the vegan world, perhaps. Daniel Bryan was actually on a vegan diet for his health, but had to stop eating vegan after he developed an intolerance for soy. That alone wouldn’t have been a problem, but he said he could not find enough non-soy vegan food while traveling on the road with WWE. While he does eat meat now, he sticks to a mostly vegetarian diet. Hopefully, when he’s more established, he’ll be able to do more to support some vegan organizations and their research.